''Blue Light'' is a 1966 American espionage drama television series starring

Robert Goulet Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American and Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Cana ...

and Christine Carère about the adventures of an American double agent in Nazi Germany during World War II. It aired from January 12 to May 18, 1966.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 104.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present, Sixth Edition'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , p. 116. A theatrical movie, '' I Deal in Danger'', was created by editing ''Blue Light''s first four episodes together into a continuous story. ''I Deal in Danger'' was released in 1966 after ''Blue Light''s cancellation.The Classic TV Archive – Europe: Blue Light
/ref>mysteryfile.com A TV Series Review by Michael Shonk: BLUE LIGHT (1966).
/ref>

Synopsis

Prior to Nazi Germanys conquest of Europe, the United States places 18

sleeper agent A sleeper agent, also called sleeper cell, is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization not to undertake an immediate mission but to act as a potential asset if activated. Even if unactivated, the "sleeper agent" is still an asset ...

s – collectively forming an espionage organization called "Code: Blue Light" – inside Germany, assigned to penetrate the German high command during World War II. Journalist David March is one of them. He passes himself off to the Germans as a foreign correspondent who has officially renounced his American citizenship and come to Germany in order to support the Nazi cause. The Germans put him to work as a writer and broadcaster of Nazi

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

– and occasionally as a spy for Germany. The Germans catch and execute the other 17 Blue Light agents, and as the lone survivor March must work hard to maintain his cover and avoid detection and arrest by German counterintelligence agents while secretly spying for the Allies. He is so deeply undercover that except for a few United States Government officials who know that he is a double agent loyal to the United States, the entire world believes him to be a pro-Nazi traitor – so much so that not only does he discover that a woman he loves has committed suicide because of his supposed support for Nazism, but he must also avoid capture or assassination by Allied intelligence agencies unaware that he secretly works for the Allies. Marchs confidante, assistant, and contact with the underground is Suzanne Duchard, also a double agent who poses as a French Gestapo agent who hates him. She knows that he is a Blue Light double agent, and secretly both supports his espionage activities against the Germans and falls in love with him. In his adventures, March sees a lot of action and faces many moral dilemmas, such as tough choices between carrying out his orders and protecting innocents. He often kills in order to maintain his cover or fulfill a mission.

Cast

as David March * Christine Carère as Suzanne Duchard

Production

Walter Grauman and Larry Cohen created ''Blue Light'', and Buck Houghton produced it. Episode directors included Grauman, Robert Butler, James Goldstone, Walter Graham, Gerd Oswald, and Leo Penn. Writers included Cohen, Merwin Bloch, Walter Brough, Dick Carr, Jamie Farr, Harold Livingston, H. Bud Otto, Brad Radnitz, Curtis Sanders,

Donald S. Sanford Donald S. Sanford (March 17, 1918 – February 8, 2011) was an American television, radio and film screenwriter. Sanford was known for his work on numerous television series, as well as his role as the author of the screenplay for the 1976 World ...

, Roger Swaybill, Jack Turley, and Dan Ullman. Goulet's production company Rogo Productions produced the show in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television, and

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...

composed its theme music, with Schifrin, Dave Grusin, Joseph Mullendore and Pete Rugolo writing episode scores. Except for its first episode, ''Blue Light'' was filmed entirely at Bavarian Studios in Munich, West Germany – according to Goulet, the first American television show filmed in color in Europe. Following the cancellation of ''Blue Light'', its first four episodes, which told a continuous story of David Marchs efforts targeting a German super-weapon facility at Grossmuchen, Germany, were edited together to create a movie. Entitled '' I Deal in Danger'', it was released theatrically in the United States in December 1966 and in other countries in 1967 and 1968.

Episodes

Sources:tvguide.com Blue Light Episode Guide
/ref>

Broadcast history

''Blue Light'' premiered on ABC on January 12, 1966. It was cancelled after the broadcast of its seventeenth episode on May 18, 1966. Reruns of the show continued to air in its regular time slot until August 31, 1966. It aired on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. throughout its run.

Critical reception

''Blue Light'' was violent by the standards of television in the mid-1960s; in situations where other television heroes knocked out guards and other opponents, March knifed them to death. It was credited for its gritty depiction of espionage in World War II and for the difficult moral choices it posed. Best known as a singer rather than an actor, Goulet received good reviews for his believable portrayal of March, and the show was fast-paced, with tight plots that kept moving. It also featured some of the best television character actors of the 1960s as its guest stars. Carère, however, was viewed as a liability for the show, especially in the romantic subplot between her character and Goulets. The shows 30-minute format also worked against it, forcing episode writers to meet time constraints in part by making David Marchs opponents shallow as characters and too easy for him to outwit.

References

External links